leaving. one or two. back you're watching r t here's a look at the top stories nations turning out half the world's economy a look forward through trade and common solutions as the asia pacific summit starts in russia's far east operation and putin gives our t.v.'s exclusive views on the matter in the global spotlight. the u.s. is now reportedly sending teams to advise opposition fighters in syria washington has resisted calls to engage militarily so far saying it only provides no need for a while france could be considering sending the rebels have your tiller. and be you

offering sleeves of public disillusioned european central bank is finally said to help announcing it will be buying bonds from struggling eurozone nations to lower their boring costs but angry crowds in greece and spain walked out against underlining cuts. next lot of important speaks exclusively to my colleague kevin on the russian president's first t.v. interview since returning to the kremlin. hello are you watching r t with me kevin o. in a very pleased to say today that we're joined by the president of the russian federation of let him a potent we're very pleased because this is his first major interview since his inauguration and he's granted it to us so mr president thank you very much for making the time to talk to us but i want to talk about first of all is the ongoing at the moment apec summit you'll be going there very shortly no flood of osce talk course it's the first time that russia has held it prestigious event but it always

begs the question what's actually achieved at these events events like that like the g eight like the g twenty now with the way pick is primarily an economic vessel there's a lot of politics involved as well and of course a lot of the key players including you including american key players disagree on some very key issues and thinking about syria and thinking about missile defense thinking about iran is there a danger that the politics may stifle get in the way of the big economic deals that the very same key player is hoping to sign at this summit or at least talk about science and if. that is true but in fact you just said it yourself a pick was originally conceived as a forum for discussing economic issues and as this year's host country we also intend to focus on economic and social economic challenges and emotionally was originally established to the overall objective of liberalizing the global economy and we intend to make this the key issue on the agenda in vladivostok that you will

invited our counterparts five years ago to meet in the russian federation where russian know was to acknowledge the importance of this area for russia given that two thirds of russia's territory is located in asia and yet the bulk of our foreign trade more than fifty percent is with europe whereas asia or any accounts for twenty four percent therefore we are planning to focus primarily on economic challenges transport global food security and the task of liberalizing the global economy. it's a well known fact that the past year has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people affected by starvation which is growing by two hundred million this means that one billion people worldwide are currently suffering from food shortages or famine as far as syria and other hot spots are concerned is usually the currently in the limelight and we will certainly address them in or deliberations of the forum in bilateral discussions or otherwise they wouldn't be overlooked. the problem says ok thanks for explaining that we're going

to come back to apec at a bit later if we may but you touched on another big subject in the headlines and you can read just events that have been unfolding in syria over the last eighteen months now russia's position has been steadfast all the way along the line that it should be no foreign intervention and it should be the syrian people who do the deciding it should be done through diplomacy however that's a great idea but day in day out innocent lives are being lost on both sides is it time for something more than talking should russia be reassessing its position maybe now from what i see it took a lot and it did it how come russia is the only one which is expected to revise its stance don't you think our counterparts in negotiations want to revise theirs as well because if we look back at the events in the past few years we'll see that quite a few of our counterparts initiatives have not played out the way they were intended to take the examples of numerous countries riven by escalating internal conflict the u.s. and its allies went into afghanistan and now they're all thinking about how they

can get out of the you know are you sure the situation will be stable for decades to come so far no one can be confident about it and look at what's going on in the arab countries there have been notable developments in egypt libya tunisia yemen and other places would you say that order and prosperity have been totally ensured for these nations and what's going on in iraq in libya their own clashes still raging among the country's. various tribes of i won't even mention the way the country had its regime changed this is a separate topic what concerns us and what i want to emphasize once again is the current hostilities in syria but at the same time we are just as concerned about the possible consequences of certain decisions should they be taken or pinion the most important today is ending the violence we must all the warring parties including the government and the so-called rebels the armed opposition to sit down

at the negotiating table and decide on a future that would guarantee security for all stakeholders in the syria only then should they get down to any practical measures regarding the country's future government system we realize that this country needs a change but this doesn't mean the change should come with bloodshed. well. ok well given the fact regarding syria that you see on the table now what is the next step there what do you realistically think is going to happen next. but if. we told our partners we would like to sit down together at the negotiating table in geneva and when we did together we charted a road map for further action that could help bring peace to syria and channel developments down a more constructive path we received almost unanimous support and share the talks results with the syrian government within the rebels actually refused to recognize those decisions and many of the negotiating parties have also quietly backed down i

believe that the first thing to do is to stop shipping into the war zone which is still going on but we should stop trying to impose unacceptable solutions on either side because it is a dead end and i think that's what we should do it's that simple luckily we generally enjoy friendly relations with the arab world but we would like to stay away from islamic secretary in conflict or interfere in a showdown involving the sunnies the shia and so on we treat everyone with equal respect the only underlying motive behind our stance is the desire to create a favorable environment for the situation to develop positively in years to come. what are your thoughts about the united nations and the way the united nations has reacted particularly in syria there's been criticism that. it's failed to deliver a unified front if you like and it's become more of a figurehead organization do you share that view. quite the contrary i would say my

take on the issue is the absolute opposite of what you've just said yet if you noted nations in the security council had indeed turned into a mere rubber stamping tool any one of the member states it would have ceased to exist just like the league of nations did but the reality is that the security council in the un meant to be a tool for compromise seeking to achieve it is a long and complex process but only hard work can yield this fruit. not so much that you understood mr president other questions. like to ask you a number of western and arab nations have been covertly to start with supporting the f.s.a. the free syrian army did some of them do it openly in a course the catch here is that the f.s.a. is suspected of hiring a known al-qaeda fighters amongst their ranks so the twist in this tale is that a lot of those countries are actually sponsoring terrorism if you like in syria countries that have suffered from terrible terrorism themselves is that a fair assessment was not to you know when someone aspires to attain and then they

see is optimal any means will do as a rule they will try and do that by hook or by crook and hardly ever think of the consequences that was the case during the war in afghanistan when the soviet union invaded in one nine hundred seventy knowing that tory market hasn't put the support of the rebel movement there and then basically gave rise to al-qaeda that which later backfired on the united states and so today some want to use militants from al qaida or some other organizations with equally radical views to accomplish their goals in syria this policy is dangerous and very shortsighted in that case one should turn him over all of its inmates and bring them to syria to do the fighting practically the same kind of people don't want we should bear in mind is that one day these people would get back at their former captors and on the other hand these same people should bear in mind that they will eventually end up in a new prison very much like the one off the cuban shore to broaden out

a little bit a little bit wider from syria you touched on the self serious in the middle of a civil war we're seeing conflicts in bahrain and in saudi arabia ok things are a bit calmer in egypt to libya and tunisia you've mentioned it just now but standing back or made over all all the troubles we've seen in the middle east all the turmoil there has it been at all for the good or for the bad where is it where is it put that region. for you know we can. just this into the small hours and still run out of time for me it's clear these events have a historic logic the leaders of these countries have obviously overlooked the need to change the missed on going trends at home and abroad in any case the lack of a civilized approach him with a high level of violence has so far stood in the way of any sustainable political structures which would help solve the economic and social problems in societies by those events this is what causes

a lot of concern for the future let's turn over to the united states the upcoming election we're all looking forward to very much of course now the reset button with russia was firmly pushed by barack obama over the last four years but. still that missile defense shield the headache for russia in the east of europe if obama does win a second term what's going to define the next chapter of russia and america's relations and is it a chap that you can do business with. i believe the over the last four years presidents obama and medvedev have made a lot of progress in strengthening russia u.s. relations we have saw in the new start treaty to go with them backed by the us russia has become a fully fledged member of the world trade organization there are more reasons to be optimistic about our bilateral relations with these two you mentioned the u.s. missile defense system is surely one of the key issues on today's agenda because it involves russia's vital interests scholars and experts understand that

a unilateral solution will not in hearts global stability in essence the intention is to upset the strategic balance which is a very dangerous thing to do as any involved party would always strive to maintain its defensive capabilities and the entire thing could simply trigger off a race is it possible to find a solution to the problem if president obama is reelected for a second term principle yes it is but this isn't just about president obama. for all i know his desire to work out a solution is quite sincere but almost breathless my feeling is that he is a sincere man and that he sincerely wants to implement positive change but can he do it will they let him do it i mean that there is also the military lobby and the department of state which is quite conservative by the way it is fairly similar to russia's foreign ministry other three are run by a number of fresh look plans who've been working there for decades the thing is

that in order to solve the missile defense issue we both need to accept as an axiom yes we are reliable partners and allies for each other well let's imagine for a second we have all the solution the means from now on we jointly assess missile threats and control this defense system together this is a highly sensitive area of national defense i am not sure that our partners are ready for this kind of cooperation at the national but i thought it took all the sort of interest is there anything that russia can do to try and. meet in the middle to give a better ground. we did what we could we said let's do it together partners a so far refusing to go along with that but what else can we do we can maintain dialogue deal that let it go the way america's european allies who also happen to be russia's partners have nothing to do with it i believe that as a european national you should understand it this is a purely american missile defense system and a strategic one of its european elements pushed to the periphery you see europe

just like russia is not allowed to take part in either assisting missile threats or controlling a system he our original proposal was to develop it has a three party solution but our partners have not agreed to that question ok so we think you can work with barack obama if you get one of what if mitt romney gets in a quote here from just a month or two ago is that if he makes it to the white russia is without question our number one geopolitical foe they fight every cause for the world's worst actors went on to say russia is not a friendly character on the world stage could you work with him said. morten yes we can we work with whichever president is elected by the american people but our effort will only be as efficient as our partners allow it to be as for mr romney's position we understand that this is to a certain extent motivated by election campaign rhetoric but i also think that he

was always clear wrong because such behavior in the international arena is the same as using nationalism and segregation as a tools of us domestic policy its effect in the international arena is the same when a politician person who aspires to lead a nation especially a great country like the us declares someone to be enemy a priore and by the way this brings something else to mind when we talk about the missile defense system or american partners keep telling us this is not directed against you but what happens if mr romney and believes us to be america's number one which is elected as president of the united states in that case the missile defense system will definitely be directed against russia technologically configured exactly for this purpose and you also have to think about his strategic character not for a year or even a decade and the chances that a man with romney's views could come to power quite hard so what are we supposed to

do to ensure our security. i'd like to talk about the latest developments in the magnitsky case for a moment both the u.s. and britain britain most recently are working on this list of high ranking russian officials russian citizens that they say are responsible for his death he was a high ranking find i'm sorry died in a. russian church expect of us why is there still such a perception of brought to justice wasn't dealt in russia that the people responsible for it haven't been dealt with properly what is this keep rumbling on. you see there are people who need and the enemy they are looking for an opponent to fight against you know how many people die while. prison in those countries which have condemned russia the numbers a huge look at the us that came up with the so-called magnitsky list as you know there is no death penalty in russia while the us still keeps it on the books anyone including women can be executed at the same time all civilized societies know the

judicial errors can occur in capital punishment cases even when people plead guilty it turns out later on that the convict did not commit the crime yet as for mr magnitsky it's certainly a great tragedy that he died in prison and this certainly must be a thorough investigation if someone is found guilty they must be punished but what i want to emphasize is there is absolutely no political context in this case still someone's looking to spoil relations with russia and they have banned some russian officials who are alleged to be involved in the death of mr magnitsky from entering their country but what should russia do in such cases take appropriate steps and similarly list officials of the country that introduces such measures against russia like that. i'd like to we're talk about the trial and jailing of pussy riot punk group band there's been much criticism of the sentence handed down was too strong was too much and the whole case was just made to big

a deal of fat and actually backfired and it's brought more people to their cause with a publicist with hindsight it was a beautiful thing but with hindsight you think the case could have been handled differently. could you please translate the name of the band into russian pussy riot the punk band i don't know what you call them in russian maybe you could tell me. can you translate the first word into russian. or maybe it would sound too obscene yes i think you wouldn't do it because it sounds too obscene even in english. but he actually thought it was referring to a cat but maybe i'm missing a point here but anyway so do you think that that case was handled wrongly in any way could you open your mind i know you understand it perfectly well you don't need to pretend you don't get it it's just because these people made everyone say their band's name too many times it's obscene but forget it here's what i would like to say i have always felt the punishment should be proportionate to the offense no i

am not in a position now and would not like in any way to comment on the decision of a russian court but i would rather talk about the moral side of the story. first in case you've never heard of it a couple of years ago one of the band's members put up three effigies in one of moscow's big supermarkets with a sign saying that jews gays and migrant workers should be driven out of moscow i think you're thora he should have looked into their activities back then but after that they staged an orgy in a public place of course people are allowed to do what ever they want to do as long as it's legal for this kind of conduct in a public place should not go unnoticed by the more thirties then they uploaded the video on the internet then they turned up at your lock of a cathedral here in moscow causing unholy mayhem and then went to another cathedral and caused mayhem there too you know russians still have painful memories of the early years of soviet rule when thousands of orthodox muslim as well as the clergy

from other religions were persecuted and so in general i think the state has to protect the feelings of believers or if you are will not comment on whether the verdict is well grounded in the sentence proportionate to the offense these girls must have lawyers who defend their interests in court they have the right to file an appeal and demand a new hearing. it's up to them it isn't just a legal issue it's just the just to kill us there's concern here and abroad to russia has been suffering a planned on the opposition since since you returned as president despite a defamation law upping the fines for defamation internet censorship laws brought in to protect children all these introduced under your watch what's the balance between a healthy opposition you think and maintaining law and order what is your view. pretty open to slaughter so is it true then that other countries don't have laws that ban child pornography including online from sleeve and seventeen. so they

do well we didn't until recently and if we began to take our society and our children from these offenses. maybe it was the timing of the introduction it may have seemed a bit heavy handed if you can but fowler again. you know i try not to think about it of course i'm aware of how my conduct to resonate globally but this cannot dictate my policies or any steps that we take are in the interests of the russian people and our children need this kind of protection no one is going to use this as a tool to restrict the internet or online freedoms but we have the right to protect our children but if we talk of what some call a clamp down we should clarify what we're talking about if we understand it is a simple requirement that everyone including the opposition complies with russian law then this requirement will be consistently enforced you might also recall the mass riots the short ok a year ago a lot of people were injured

a lot of property was damaged but is it better to let things deteriorate to that state and then spend the year tracking down people and looking them up i think it's best not to let things get that far that's my first point that's my second point let me now get down to the hard facts you must know that a year ago i backed reform that would see russian governors elected and not appointed as previously through secret ballot but i also took the next day after taking office i introduced a new bill on elections to the upper train birth of the russian parliament these specific steps will pave the way for a more democratic russia and it's true both for its people and its state there have been other proposals initiated too including changes in the rule making process the state duma is now considering using public initiatives a major national issue submitted via the internet as a source of new legislation if the draft bill is supported by one hundred thousand

web votes. it will then be discussed in the state duma there are of the major proposals as well that we seek to make our society more advanced and more democratic and we intend to be consistent in following this path while we've got you with us to get your thoughts on the ongoing julian assange case in britain i'm sure you've been watching it is a legal battle with britain and with a number of other countries as well but equally his attempts to get asylum in ecuador is no god he's holed up in the ecuadorian embassy what's your opinion there that one point he was talking about. revoking the embassies diplomatic immunity if they could actually go in and get him that kind of sounds a bit odd when of course you think as well that russia has a number of suspects that russia wants to talk to britain is a kind of topsy turvy situation isn't it but they're given safe harbor in britain. this certainly is an unsettling factor in our relations with the u.k.

i used to tell my previous counterparts and friends in the british government not those holding office at the moment the britain happens to be harboring certain individuals who have blood on their hands having waged a real war on russian territory and slaughtered people i told them just imagine what it would be like if russia was a hub of militants from say the are rich republican army those negotiating in pursuing a compromise with the government these days i'll ask you those are perfectly sane and sensible people but those with a radical agenda you know what i was told in response should compare that's exactly what the soviet union used to do aiding people like that first of all i'm a former soviet secret service operative myself but i don't know whether the u.s.s.r. used to aid this sort of people or not simply because i never had anything to do with it all but even if we assume it did that was back in the cold war era you know there has been a cardinal change in the settings the soviet union is history and what we have

today is a new. russia how can we allow ourselves to be dominated by our old phobias and outdated perceptions of international relations and the kind of relations between nations it's time to let them go but if we are constantly lectured about how independent britain's judiciary is it makes its own decisions and no one can influence it the one about judy in a song they ruled him to be extradited what is that if it's not a self evident example of a double standard i won't make a definitive statement but as far as i know ecuador has requested guarantees from the swedish government the sweden wouldn't hand the soldier over to the united states are no guarantees of being forthcoming at the very least this suggests that we are looking at a politically motivated trial. ok we'll be following the developments there and we talk about some of the problems that russia faces one of the long term problems that russia has been facing is the drug trade the import of drugs and i stand it's

increased many fold since nato went in there over a decade ago to troops twenty fourteen what then does russia have any hope that you can curb this huge drug problem the amount of drugs produced in afghanistan has increased by sixty percent in the past year by the way i'm not sure about the exact figures but some ninety percent of heroin peddled in the u.k. comes from afghanistan this is a common challenge and a common threat for us wall for russia this is a very serious threat to our national security it cannot be overstated more than twenty percent of the overall drug traffic coming from afghanistan is marketed inside russia could you explain to all of you. what the correlation was why did this problem increase while nato troops were there was there any connection what was what why was that happening almost ninety percent of that country's g.d.p. comes from drug trafficking if you want to replace this nine percent you have to pay but you have no one wants to everyone those the drug revenue using a part

a used to finance terrorism but even this awareness and the realisation that europe is being flooded with afghan produced drugs is not enough to encourage our partners to seriously tackle this issue and this is very sad but of course it. we started off. by talking about the forthcoming apec summit which you're off to very shortly when you're there i gather you'll be meeting with chinese president hu jintao you won't be meeting barack obama because he's not there clinton will be there is a sign of how you say thank you may just be busy but is it a sign that you regard it is also a sign that maybe china is increasingly becoming a political and commercial partner for. china is indeed becoming a global economic and political hub this is part of a global trend with new centers emerging on the political and economic landscape this is an obvious fact for everyone the question is the pace of change china has

taken up this new leading role by not only in russia's eyes but also in the always of the whole world what makes this rather special however is that russia and china are neighbors and our special relations took thousands of years to evolve to where they are at the moment russia china relations origin unprecedented high and we share mutual trust both politically and economically over the coming years we are bound to achieve a one hundred billion dollar turnover rate to put this in perspective currently europe makes up fifty one percent of russia's foreign trade which amounts to over two hundred billion dollars that will be a serious push forward because our american partners told us long ago that barack obama would not attend the summit the reason is the election race in the u.s. we think it's ok but the u.s. will still be represented at a high level so yes we've known for several months now and we fully understand the reasons anyway this will be a great summit with top officials coming from twenty countries heads of state and

heads of government what we wish all the very best president vladimir putin funk you for talking to a lot thank you very much. wealthy british style stock. market. is going to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on. the mission and free accreditation free zones for charges free. range humans.